CAREER AND FAMILY

Over the past several decades, American society has undergone significant
changes in its attitudes toward balancing work and family life. These
attitudes have been influenced by changing demographics; a dramatic
increase in the percentage of women who choose to work in non-household
related areas; rising costs in the realm of housing, transportation,
clothing, and food; changing societal and personal priorities; and a host
of other factors. Today, both employer and employee are grappling with the
challenges of balancing career and family obligations and desires in a
more visible way than ever before. American media outlets (television,
radio, newspapers, etc.), for instance, simultaneously extoll the virtues
of those who excel in the business world and lament the impact that such
ambition allegedly can have on the psychological health of the individual,
his or her partner, and their children. This concern with the issue of
career/family balance is reflected in the barrage of media attention that
accompanies any small trend in this area, whether it be an upturn in
professional women who leave work behind to wholly concentrate on
motherhood or a general society-wide movement toward simplification of
life, which is typically characterized as symbolic of an increased
emphasis on family happiness/growth at the expense of career development.

Indeed, the debate over what constitutes an appropriate balance between
family and career is livelier than ever. For example, proponents of recent
trends toward attitudes that are typically characterized as
"family-friendly" laud the decisions of those who choose
less time-consuming careers or institute flexible work rules to increase
family time. Others, though, resent the assumption that is sometimes made
that people who are ambitious and driven in their chosen profession, and
thus spend significant amounts of time involved in such endeavors, must
have their priorities screwed up. For example, Joseph Nocera wrote in
Fortune
that "without question, it's unhealthy to be so consumed by
work that the kids feel abandoned. But there is also something unhealthy
about so sanctifying family time that we diminish the importance of work.
Yet that is precisely the judgment our culture now renders on a regular
basis." Nocera went on to critique the widespread assumption that
"no matter what's going on at the office, it can't be
more important than coaching your kid's basketball team. Well,
sometimes it isn't, and sometimes it is. Sometimes other
people's jobs are at stake, or a crisis has to be averted.
Sometimes you need to accomplish something in your work for the sheer
satisfaction of it, and sometimes that means staying late or working on
weekends. Why should it be such a sin to admit this out loud?"

For the small business owner, achieving a reasonable balance between work
and family obligations can be a particularly daunting task. The challenge
of striking this appropriate balance can be especially acute for women
entrepreneurs, who, despite tremendous changes in societal acceptance of
their right to make their mark in the business world, still face
disapproval in some quarters for making such a choice.

For both men and women, the demands of establishing and maintaining a
profitable business are numerous and time-consuming in most instances.
After all, it is the entrepreneur who is ultimately responsible for
realizing his or her vision of the business, and who has typically
invested a great deal of time, thought, and energy into nourishing that
vision. The entrepreneur/small business owner is often the chief decision
maker within the business, and is oftentimes the primary producer of the
company's goods and/or services as well. This latter element is
particularly true of smaller businesses, whether the enterprise is
concerned with silk screening, freelance writing, portrait photography,
carpentry, or some other area of endeavor. But life partners and children
have needs as well, and successful entrepreneurs and family counselors
alike warn that a person who establishes a profitable business is likely
to find that his or her victory is a hollow one if his or her relationship
with a spouse or child is irreparably damaged in the process.
"Balancing home and career is the greatest juggling act of
all," wrote Marian Thomas in
Balancing Career and Family.
"It requires practice, concentration and a great deal of
self-confidence. And, just like a juggler, if you try to juggle too many
balls at once, you're bound to drop one of them. In order to have
it all you have to make sacrifices. There is no easy way around it. You
have to decide what your goals are and set priorities. You have to decide
what is most important to you and your family and build your life around
that."

Finally, small business owners have to recognize that the career/family
issue is one that impacts on employees as well. Indeed,
"family-friendly" policies have proliferated in many
industries in recent years, as various sectors respond to general societal
perceptions that the work/family balance had become unevenly weighted
toward work over the past few decades. In many cases, it has become
essential for small business owners to recognize the changing expectations
of their employees in this area.

HELPING EMPLOYEES ESTABLISH AN APPROPRIATE WORK/FAMILY BALANCE

Increasingly, small businesses have shown an interest in helping their
work forces manage the challenges of addressing both work and family
obligations. Their ability to do so is dictated somewhat by financial
health, workload, competitive pressures, and a host of other factors, but
many small business owners have come to the conclusion that workplaces
that insist on long hours from their employees may be sacrificing
long-term health for short-term gains. "Many experts in the field
of management have argued that family-responsive policies and programs
will be necessary to attract and retain needed employees and to build
competitive advantages," wrote Teresa Joyce Covin and Christina C.
Brush in
Review of Business.
"Research also suggests that conflicts between work and family are
related to decreased productivity, lost work time, job dissatisfaction,
increased health risks for employed parents, poorer performance of the
parenting role, absenteeism, poor morale, reduced life satisfaction, and
depression. While work-family conflict is commonly viewed as a
women's problem, more companies are beginning to recognize that
both men and women feel the impact of work-family conflicts."

There are several steps that small business owners can take to help
employees manage their obligations both in the office and at home.
"A number of external, structural innovations help people
immeasurably in balancing work and family," stated Deborah Lee in
Having It All/Having Enough: How to Create a Career/Family Balance that
Works for You.
These include "flexible work schedule, the availability of
part-time work that is taken seriously and is respected by employers, the
option of working at home or bringing a child to work. However, these
options won't help much unless people also adjust their attitudes
about work and unless employers adjust their expectations about what
people can produce. A part-time schedule doesn't help if it
contains a full-time equivalent workload or penalties such as loss of
health benefits or loss of advancement opportunities." Of course,
some small business owners contend that a person who takes on a part-time
schedule does not warrant the same consideration for advancement as does a
full-time employee, and that providing health benefits to all part-time
employees puts the business at an unacceptable competitive disadvantage.
Each individual business faces challenges and considerations that are
unique; thus, each business owner has to decide for him or herself what
family-friendly policies (and attitudes) can be put in place.

BALANCING WORK AND FAMILY IN HOME-BASED BUSINESSES

Owners of home-based businesses face unique challenges in the realm of
achieving a desired work/family balance. Whereas small business owners who
commute to their place of business every day are usually freed from
child-rearing responsibilities for
the duration of their time there, entrepreneurs who work out of their
home often have to devise methods in which they can both attend to the
needs of their business and provide adequate attention to their children.
Researchers and home-based business owners tout several steps that can be
taken to assist entrepreneurs in meeting these twin challenges.

Establish a family-friendly business—This sounds simple, but in
reality all home-based businesses are not created equal. Some may
provide a parent with significant freedom in structuring business around
his or her children's schedule, while others may not provide
nearly the same level of flexibility.

Communicate with spouse and/or others—Establishing and
maintaining a home-based business requires changes in the routines of
all family members, not just the entrepreneur. Changes in travel
schedules, household chore allocation, and other areas of family life
may all need to be made. The key to making sure that such changes are
made with a minimum of disruption and/or resentment is open, honest
communication.

Make maximum use of free time—Homebased entrepreneurs can
dramatically increase their productivity—and keep a lid on
feelings of frustration—by scheduling demanding and/or important
work obligations for times when child supervision obligations are
minimal. Nap times, pre-school sessions, extracurricular programs, etc.
can all provide parents with valuable windows of opportunity to attend
to vital work-related matters.

Prioritize and establish a daily schedule—Business owners who
work out of their home should avoid falling into a routine in which
tasks—both family-and work-related—are addressed in a
haphazard, "as they come up" fashion. Instead, they should
try to establish a daily or weekly schedule. Work discipline can be
difficult to maintain at home even without children; their presence
further compounds the challenge.

Establish an office area that is physically removed from the rest of the
house—People who attempt to take care of work while situated in
the heart of a child's play area are apt to experience high
levels of frustration. Instead, home-based entrepreneurs should consider
establishing an office in a separate area that includes all necessary
equipment to conduct business. Moreover, children should be taught to
respect the importance of that area. Another option which may be more
popular with parents of toddlers and young children is to create a
"childfriendly" office with a corner that is set aside for
their needs.

Communicate the importance of your work to children—In
How to Raise a Family and a Career Under One Roof,
Lisa Roberts noted that home-based entrepreneurs should make a special
effort to educate their children about the importance of the work they
are doing. She counseled parents to "share your victories,
challenges and rewards as often as possible. If your children feel like
they're a part of what you're doing, they'll be
much more supportive than if they see your business as something
that's just taking you away from them."

Enjoy your family—Many home-based business owners may create such
a situation for themselves for the express purpose of spending greater
time with their mates or children, yet find themselves feeling
frustrated with the demands on time and energy that those people
inevitably make during the course of every day. Counselors urge
home-based entrepreneurs not to lose sight of why they made the decision
to operate out of the home in the first place.

Overall, experts stress that owning a business is not something to take
lightly. It requires planning to achieve an appropriate balance between
work and family that all interested parties can live with. "Make
time for family," Michelle Prather wrote in
Entrepreneur.
"Acknowledge you're taking them on the wildest ride of
their lives. Find a mentor to help you through the tough times. Know your
limits. Know that unhealthy relationships will worsen, and solid ones
could waver."

FURTHER READING:

"Completing the Package: Balancing Work and Family as You Press
Ahead."
InfoWorld.
August 23, 1999.